Ingredient of the Week: Potatoes

Take a break from large holiday meals and relax your table with some potatoes. (AP)

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Tired of making large holiday meals? Simplify your new year with potatoes, from baked with a steak to a chowder or even au gratin.

If you’re going for a potato chowder, chef Tom Douglas recommends spicing up “the humble potato” with a crunchy crouton sauteed in olive oil and p and some smoky, crunchy bacon. “On a big, creamy chowder, what a nice treat it [is] to bite into a crunchy crouton,” he says.

Chef Thierry Rautureau recommends sweating leeks in some butter and “adding that to the soup as well,” to make leek and potato chowder.

Potatoes are hot on Pinterest as well, adds Katie O. “Hasselback potatoes are really big right now,” she says. Slice your potatoes thinly, but that they’re still connected at the bottom, and place butter, thyme and black pepper in the slits. Bake, and Katie says you’ll have a crunchy top and a creamy middle, making for a delicious potato side dish.